Name: Andy BechtelFrom: UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United StatesAbout me: I teach editing and writing at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill. I'm interested in new ways to tell news stories and in the ethical and political ramifications of word choices (terrorist surveillance program, domestic spying or something in between?).
I have 12 years of experience in newspaper editing, most recently at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

Forget Iowa and New Hampshire. The big vote in these parts is the one about The News & Observer's comics lineup. With all precincts reporting, the results are in.

In a surprising move, N&O editors have decided to keep all of the current comics and bring in nine more, including "Mallard Fillmore" and "Mother Goose and Grimm." And "Cathy" and "Hagar the Horrible," dropped from the lineup in recent years, are coming back.

The paper will move Jumble, the crossword puzzle and horoscopes to another page to accommodate the additions. Comics will be grouped by theme, and they may be on the paper's Web site later this year.

This Q&A explains the paper's reasoning behind it all, including why "Fillmore" will be on the comics pages while "Doonesbury" will stay on the op-ed page.